Horror movies getting prequels isn’t at all a new concept, but with the upcoming Orphan: First Kill, such an endeavor presented a number of challenges for the filmmakers. While fans are delighted that Orphan star Isabelle Fuhrman is returning to reprise her role of Esther, the actor was only 12 when the film was released, which means the now-24-year-old Fuhrman was tasked with embodying the look of a young child. Additionally, the production relied on makeup effects and forced-perspective filmmaking techniques as opposed to digital trickery to pull off the feat, with Fuhrman recently noting she felt “thoroughly disturbed” with the finished product. Orphan: First Kill doesn’t yet have a release date.
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“I love the challenge of being able to play a kid because that’s never historically been done in cinema — I was like looking all this up, because I love looking up old movie history and things like that, and I was like, ‘Oh, an adult has never reprised the role that they played as a child,’” Furhman revealed to The Hollywood Reporter. “Will Smith, for example, recently did that movie [Gemini Man] where they de-age somebody, but to reprise a role that you literally did as a kid as an adult has never been done before. It’s kind of impossible. And we did it. We didn’t use special effects, we didn’t use any crazy makeup tricks. And I think that’s what makes the movie work, is because you really can’t figure out how I look like a [nine-year-old], but I do. And it’s really creepy.”
She continued, “I was there every day. I know how we did this. I know all the tricks, and I’m so thoroughly disturbed right now, because I somehow am nine years old again, and it doesn’t make any sense … I was like, ‘How do I revisit this part and then also convincingly play a kid?’ Because that was the easy part last time, the hard part was trying to be an adult. Now the hard part is I have to be kid.”
The original 2009 film starred Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard as parents who adopt the nine-year-old Esther (Fuhrman), who goes on to demonstrate bizarre behavior, leading to the reveal that, rather than being a child, she’s an adult woman with primordial dwarfism and is merely exploiting families for her own gain.
Stay tuned for updates on Orphan: First Kill.
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